A Stroll in the Moonlight
by writersblock777
Summary: Joey and Mai have a little conversation in the moonlight that leads to much more. OneShot.


**Disclaimer:** Nothing recognizable belongs to me.

**A/N:** There are very few well-written Yu-Gi-Oh stories out there, so I'm going to write one of my own. I have a whole idea for this one. It's going to be a little Joey/Mai fluff story. Maybe I'll write another one: a Tristan/Serenity/Duke triangle. P.S. It may not be as well-written as the actual well-written ones, but I'm pretty sure it's better than some of the other ones I've seen. Fluffy.

**Summary: **Joey and Mai have a little conversation in the moonlight that leads to much more. One-Shot.

**A Stroll in the Moonlight**

Mai wandered around the city of Domino with a duel disk in one hand (Kaiba let the contestants keep them) and her deck in the other. She kicked a stone across the pavement. Instantly, it turned into an image of Joey's head.

_Why is he popping up everywhere?_ Mai thought bitterly. She sighed a really long sigh and continued walking. She walked past Yugi's gaming shop. Mai paused at the window. There he was again. Joey and Tristan were talking to Yugi while admiring some of the rare cards on display.

Mai walked inside.

"Hi, Joey," she greeted. To be truthful, she was thoroughly pleased to see him. "Hi Tristan, Hi Yugi."

"How are you, Mai?" Yugi asked her.

"I'm actually quite fine," Mai told him. "It feels really good to be out of the Shadow Realm, to tell you the truth."

"Uh, yeah," said Joey. "About that…" He hesitated. "I wanted to talk," he said, blushing slightly, "you know, alone."

Mai turned around and led the way out so that no one could see her blushing too.

Joey stepped outside after her. "Let's take a walk to the park, shall we?"

"Oh sure, Joey," Mai replied. _Get over yourself, girl, and don't be so awkward!_ Mai tried to lighten the mood. "I remember your expression back on Kaiba's blimp. It was priceless! You said you'd give _anything_ to have me back, remember?"

Joey just shrugged and took a seat on a bench near a gazebo. "Yeah, I remember. But one thing's for sure. I would _never_ give up any of my Duel Monsters cards!"

"Mmm."

They sat in silence for a moment, and then—

"You don't know how worried I really was about you, Mai," Joey spoke up.

"You don't know how worried I was that I would never get out of the Shadow Realm," Mai told him. "I was afraid that…that I'd really lose my memory and I wouldn't remember anyone or anything!"

Joey sighed. "Is that it? Is that all you were worried about? Yourself?"

Mai was taken aback. Those words were not what she had been expecting. "Well, I—"

"Because,_ Mai_," continued Joey, interrupting, "Everyone else wasn't worried about whether they'd be sucked into the Shadow Realm when they dueled Marik. They were worried about if you and Odeon and the good Marik would make it out alive. And I was worried that you might forget _me. _I promised I'd get you out of there, and I helped Yugi to make that promise come true."

"Look, Joey—"

Joey stood up. "Well, I guess you can't have many worries besides yourself if your stuck in the Shadow Realm," he said darkly. "But I think I should go now. I've told you all I really wanted to tell you."

Mai looked down at her shoes sadly. But then Joey turned to face her and spoke again. "I also wanted to let you know that if there's anything you need—anything at all—you can come to me. You know where to find me. I'll be in touch."

And with that, he began walking away. And everything hit Mai in the face like a deadweight. And she found herself shouting, "No, Joey, _wait!_" Joey stopped, but he didn't turn around. Mai ran up to him. She felt like a little girl that was about to apologize to her best friend about something she didn't mean to say.

"Look, Joey, I know what I said must have made you really upset," said Mai, choosing her words carefully. "But what I really wanted to say was, I was worried more about you than anything. _You_ were the one that tried to save my life in that Shadow Duel with Marik. _You_ were the one that told me that I was your best friend, and _you_ promised to get me out of the Shadow Realm. I was worried that I'd never see you again. You're my best friend, Joey. It would kill me if I couldn't see you again. But what if Marik got you too? You'd have gotten sent to the Shadow Realm as well. Although, now that I think of it, it would just be you and me…alone…"

Joey smirked at her. "Which prob'ly isn't really a bad thing…"

The pair stood in silence for a moment. "Well, I should probably go," said Mai. "I just wanted to apologize and straighten things out a bit, you know." And then she caught herself doing something completely unexpected and she kissed Joey on the cheek. She bit her lip expectantly as Joey touched the spot where she had kissed him. They just grinned at each other sheepishly.

Then, _he_ did something unexpected when he held her chin between two fingers and brought it close to him and he kissed her deeply on the lips. And, again, to her own surprise, she kissed back.

The couple stood in that position until they finally pulled away. Mai leaned on Joey's shoulder and whispered, "So much for best friends, huh." Joey laughed as he stroked her hair tenderly. Mai sighed and said softly, "I love you, Joey."

Joey kissed her again and said, "I love you too."

**A/N:** So...what did you think? Just click that bluish-greyish-purplish button down there to your left. Remember, if you need help distinguishing between right and left, make L's with both your hands. Which ever one actually looks like and L is Left. L is for Left. The bkwds L is for Right. Anyway, review please! You guys are great!


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